Is Cash App sending money to people? ‘Drop a friend’s $cashtag’ tweet gets Internet ‘begging like homeless’
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States earlier this year, businesses have been shut down and people have incurred huge losses. With the lockdown imposed for over four months now, staying at home has helped bring more focus to digital payment platforms that support peer-to-peer value transfer.
Cash App and Venmo are among the payment apps that have seen a surge in users and activity, according to app analytics firm Apptopia. With the lockdown, it seems like people don't have any means to step out of homes and go to the ATMs and these mobile applications are an easy way to send help to friends and family who are affected by the economic fallout. Moreover, the US government has helped boost the surge by enabling direct deposits of its stimulus payments to digital wallets.
On June 26, Cash App tweeted to its followers: "Drop a friend’s $cashtag. Drop yours too." Their initiative worked and soon, the hashtag #CashAppTwitch started trending and the Internet was buzzing with tweets asking for help. Bringing the Covid-19 situation to light, one tweeted, "$mommyshark90. I’m currently making Mask covers for all of the employees at our 3 local hospitals. Anything will help for all of the fabric. Thanks."
One Twitter user wrote, "#CashAppTwitch I have $104.78 left to finish my lease for my apartment this year. Please help me out! $dtglover7," and another posted, "I was recently accepted into college and due to Covid-19 my first classes are online. I have less than £1 in my bank and I need money to save up for a laptop or tablet to be able to take college classes. it would mean the world. #cashapptwitch."
"#cashapptwitch My chair that I using for gaming is so uncomfortable can you please send $50 for my goal to get a new one. My cash app is $tytyty1108 Below I sent a picture of my chair," one tweeted and another wrote, "#cashapptwitch If you donate to my cashapp ($OfficerWahl) I will draw you a mechanical pencil drawing or a colored pencil drawing and personally mail it to you with a thank you card. This is my last mechanical pencil drawing...a 3d butterfly."
However, some slammed the entire conversation thread. "Damn this whole #cashapptwitch thing just have people begging for money like the homeless. The only difference is the homeless actually have a reason to beg," one said and another posted, "I don’t know what’s going on but if Cash App is giving away money, I’d like some money as well. Please donate to your local bisexual disaster. #cashapptwitch."